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The difference between a genuine and cheap shit exhaust is astounding. I paid £170 for a genuine system in 1995 from plp in Warrington. You got a hernia carrying the bits. Had it fitted at a local tyre place.

The cheap Klarius one on my Talbot somehow weighs about half of what an equivalent straight bit of pipe would.

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I know of a serial Senator collector near Dymchurch who used to have 5 Senators but now down to only 2,plus a garage full of spares,i sometimes see him in the local cafe so i will do my best to try and make contact with him.

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I don't know much about the engine on these. It is such a solid looking iron block in the flesh - like a mini Phil-A Pontiac engine (ok that's a stretch). With the huge nose on the Senator - it feels like it sits quite far back in the engine bay.

So this is a 'cam in head' (CIH) design - that has it's origins as a 4 pot in the 60's - the wiki is quite informative. Chain driven engine.

Very much a European straight 6 - I can't see any evidence that it was ever used on any model sold in the States apart from the Bitter - so it's not an engine you can go to rockauto for (even as a parts catalogue which that website is useful for).

By the time the Cadillac Catera came in (badge engineered Omega) - they were on the later V6 engines.

As Rob pointed out, there is loads of space around the engine compared to the 24v versions - you can see a lot of the ground when peering in.

Not designed for unleaded - but probably adapted for it in service, ours is a pre-catalyst car.

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I know of a serial Senator collector near Dymchurch who used to have 5 Senators but now down to only 2,plus a garage full of spares,i sometimes see him in the local cafe so i will do my best to try and make contact with him.

house with 2 dark colored senators and a burgundy bumper wresting against the fence?

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As smooth and lovely as these are, the 2.5 mated to an auto was probably the slowest thing Vauxhall made at the time. There were some real executive slugs available around this time, I remember a 2.9 auto Jag , 820 SE ( the E is important, here) auto and a 2.5 Senator always being the last 3 cars left in the pool at weekends. Maybe if one of em had aircon or something to distract from being dangerously slow, then maybe they would have been more appealing than a 1.6 Montegos, Cavalier/ Sierra, but none of them did.

The advantage now is that it will have had an easy life, no one has ever bought a 2.5 Senator to race around the place.

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I’ve never understood why they were so popular with the police, they would get their arse wiped on a chase round a council estate in a chase against a Sierra Cosworth. Same for the Omega 3.0. Quick in a straight line but nothing special. It’d get its arse whipped by a 320d.

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I’ve never understood why they were so popular with the police, they would get their arse wiped on a chase round a council estate in a chase against a Sierra Cosworth. Same for the Omega 3.0. Quick in a straight line but nothing special. It’d get its arse whipped by a 320d.

The 24v Senator was a very easy car to get up to 145/150mph...... on a private test track officer, honestly. Lol

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Chasing scrotes in whatever is the fashionable getaway car is not the main criteria for a Police Traffic car, reliability, comfort, strength, safety, carrying capacity etc are the reason big everyday saloons have always made the best motorway cruisers Jag S_Types, Granadas, Rovers, Senators, Omegas, Volvos, 5 Series etc etc.

The Old Bill have always had specialist pursuit cars, Cooper Ses, Lotus Cortinas, 2.8 Capri and yes Sierra and Escort Cossies, these days Golf RS and Audi S3s seem to have taken that role from the Scoobies and Evos.

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Chasing scrotes in whatever is the fashionable getaway car is not the main criteria for a Police Traffic car, reliability, comfort, strength, safety, carrying capacity etc are the reason big everyday saloons have always made the best motorway cruisers Jag S_Types, Granadas, Rovers, Senators, Omegas, Volvos, 5 Series etc etc.

The Old Bill have always had specialist pursuit cars, Cooper Ses, Lotus Cortinas, 2.8 Capri and yes Sierra and Escort Cossies, these days Golf RS and Audi S3s seem to have taken that role from the Scoobies and Evos.

No car can outrun a radio or helicopter...

I was watching one of those police interceptors or similar things on tv a while ago and they got into a chase with some local scrotes round a housing estate, I think the police had a Volvo or something but it was basically a big motorway or traffic car. The scrotes has an Audi S3 or something and it was running rings around the big police car! The traffic cop said afterwards in the interview bit that he was getting very frustrated by not having the right tools for the job! The big cars were great for motorway use but round town they were completely unsuitable.

As smooth and lovely as these are, the 2.5 mated to an auto was probably the slowest thing Vauxhall made at the time. There were some real executive slugs available around this time, I remember a 2.9 auto Jag , 820 SE ( the E is important, here) auto and a 2.5 Senator always being the last 3 cars left in the pool at weekends. Maybe if one of em had aircon or something to distract from being dangerously slow, then maybe they would have been more appealing than a 1.6 Montegos, Cavalier/ Sierra, but none of them did.

The advantage now is that it will have had an easy life, no one has ever bought a 2.5 Senator to race around the place.

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As you know already I love it. It's certainly a lot more simple mechanically compared to mine, but it's still a great looking car nonetheless. If you have any trouble finding specific parts, I have someone who's basically got an entire barn filled with parts, you should be able to find most things there.

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To mark the genesis of my fleet project thread I here present my new car: a 1997 Nissan Micra Shape-

It really looks that good. There is a reason for this: its previous owner was an old lady who loved the thing so much so she made every effort to keep it in good shape. It originally came from Fleet in the GU postcode which suggests to me it was bought by the present dealer at auction, hence arriving down here in Kent. Before seeing the car I checked its MOT history and its only fails were thanks to broken stoplights, which shows me that it was very well cared for. I suppose an example of this was that on the last MOT, an advisory was a corroded rear silencer. The silencer on the car when I saw it was new. Methinks the lady wanted to keep it as good as possible. It was kept in a garage and so all the bumpers and black trim are very black and the tyres are in very good condition. Spare never used! Also included a free Dettol first aid kit from 1997.
This car has 15000 genuine miles on the clock. We clocked over 15000 during the test drive! The lady owner really only trundled around her village in it and the MOT shows that it only did some meagre miles between tests. This, of course, came at a price. We saw a cherry red Micra from 2002 at the same dealer. Paint was shoddy and when they washed it the boot had massive sections of bare metal and it wasn't very happy. This car, however, is in fabulous condition and there was no contest between the two cars- it really is that good, inside and out. Immaculate interior, driver's airbag, cassette player... all there and all functioning (apart from cassette thanks to new battery and failed display). This meant that I bought it for £1600, £100 over what was my uppermost limit, but I knew I wouldn't see another like this that was in as good shape for a fair while. It was priced very ambitiously, at £1990, so I'm content in the fact I managed to slash a few hundred off the price. There wasn't that much paperwork though. All the dealership received was the logbook with 3 service stamps from 1998, 1999 and 2000, the radio key pass, a National Trust sticker, and the original paperwork holder. I suspect the old lady died and had her car auctioned, and the massive file of paperwork is now someone's egg carton, along will everything else she owned.

As always, this car isn't exactly in showroom condition. While the inside is great and the floor is solid, and the underseal is in great shape, the not undersealed parts need a small looking at. Mainly the rear of the driver's side sill. It's really the only bubbling on the car. I suspect a well aimed stonechip managed to fester over the wintery salted roads, making it rust even more. It's around the size of a 5p piece, and will give me the opportunity to spray the insides of the sill with some chain oil to prevent any further corrosion. Behind the fuel tank there are a few rusty joints- places where the spraygun cannot get paint onto- which some Vactan and Dynax should put to rights. Alternator belt looks original because of the cracking and Nissan badges and will need doing soon as well as the front plate. As much as I like the 90's font and original dealer surround, the dishevelled R and general water ingress is a persistant MOT advisory. It could be the MOT station being strict (and most likely is considering there's a Saxo down the road with far worse blackening), however for the sake of peace of mind and all that, I'll get a new one made. The rear has already been replaced indicating this has happened before.
All in all, I think this is a nice plucky motor. I'll have it by the end of the week; just got to sort out tax, insurance, and it's going to have an MOT. As part of the deal it's getting the MOT and an oil and filter change which will be something ticked off the list. It has some love scratches and chips here and there, but it drives well, is stiff and controllable, and should make out to be a nice summer project!

Well I've been meaning to sign up here in forever, but kept forgetting. Thanks to someone over on another forum I frequent poking me about it recently the subject was forced back into my very brief attention span for long enough to get me to act on the instruction.

I figure that my little varied fleet might bring you lot some amusement...

Now getting the photos together has taken me far longer than I'd expected...so you're gonna get a couple of photos of each car for now, and I'll come back with some more information tomorrow when I've got a bit more time...

Firstly...The Lada. Before anyone asks - in response to the single question I get asked about this car: No, it is not for sale. Took me 13 years and my father's inheritance to find the thing.

Yes, it's got the usual rusty wings...Hoping that will be resolved in the next couple of months.

Next, a proper old Saab. One of the very last 8 valve cars apparently, and all the better for it. I've driven two 16v autos and they were horrible - the auto box works sooooo much better with the torque curve of the 8 valve engine. Just wish it had an overdrive for motorway cruising...

Next up a *real* Skoda...back when they put the engine where it belongs, right out the back. In the best possible colour of course...eye-searingly bright orange.

Seat covers have been added since that photo was taken as it suffers from the usual rotting seat cloth problem that affects virtually all Estelles.

Then we have possibly the world's scruffiest Sinclair C5...

Realised when looking for this that I really need to get some more photos of the thing...I use it often enough after all! We have a dog who's half husky, so this is a really good way of getting him some exercise.

Finally - again, I really need to take more photos of - we have the little Pug 107.

Included for the sake of variety even if it's a bit mainstream! First (and probably to be the only) new car I've bought, and has been a cracking little motor and has asked for very little in return for putting up with nearly three years of Oxford-Milton Keynes commuter traffic, before finally escaping that fate when my housemate moved to a new job. Now it doesn't do many miles and is my default car for "when I've managed to break everything else."

I'll fill in some more details tomorrow - I warn you though that I do tend to ramble...

Hi all, new to the forum. Thought you might be interested in what I've got myself into
I'd been after my first classic car for a while. If it's big and made in the 70s I'm interested. Looked at few things like P6s, Zodiacs, Victors, SD1s and various other things. Problem was I didn't want to spend a boatload of money on something that looked alright but underneath was actually a total heap. The solution was to buy a complete heap in the first place and spend the money fixing it.
So in January I went ahead and bought this from a colleague at work who was moving away and needed to get shot of it.

It's a part finished restoration (I prefer not started) and it needs a whole load of help if it's going to stand any chance of using a road again.
Pros
It's right up my street. Granada Coupes are quite odd and certainly stand out from the norm.
It still has the original engine, box, interior and most trim.
It came with loads of panels I need to repair it (mostly original Ford stock).
It came with so many spares I could probably build a few Granadas and still have stuff left over.
It was cheap.
Cons
Most of the front end has been cut off.
Most of the body structure is quite rotten.
It's going to take me ages.
I work at a restoration company and my boss kindly allows me to keep the car there. So I've got access to all the gear I need to restore it. I've been busy on the car for a while now so will post more pics over the coming days.
Cheers

I thought I'd start a thread for this as I'll probably end up asking all sorts of questions, given that this is my first 'proper' Citroën.

So... the ground clearance lever won't go all the way to the highest setting (all others work), which is bad 'cos the book says I need it to do that in order to check the LHM level. It feels like something's seized, so I don't want to force it. Any ideas for a plan of attack would be much appreciated.

Next up are the wheels. I now have a set of 205 pepperpots that have just gone off for powder coating & I need to get some tyres for them. The handbook says the car should have 165/70R14s on, the wheels came with 185/65R14 on. Any thoughts about what size I should get please? Cheers.